


At the Dark End of This Bar

by L-aviateur (Hannah_Kerela)



Series: Beautiful Wreck [1]
Category: Gyakuten Saiban | Ace Attorney
Genre: Broken romance, Drinking, M/M, Post-GS4, cursing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-05-26
Updated: 2012-05-26
Packaged: 2017-11-06 01:04:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,373
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/413001
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hannah_Kerela/pseuds/L-aviateur
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Edgeworth <em>left</em>. So why should he forgive him?</p>
            </blockquote>





	At the Dark End of This Bar

**Author's Note:**

> Title comes from _Beautiful Wreck_ by Shawn Mullins.

The man played an imaginary piano against the bar in time with the song blasting over the loudspeakers with one hand, taking a long drink from the glass in his other hand. He leaned against the wall, having chosen a seat against it in order to watch people without them noticing. Between his low-tipped beanie and the shadows that this particular end of the bar afforded him, no one could really be sure where he was looking. He took another long drink, watching a couple, out on a date.

 

 _It's their first date,_ he would have said, if anyone had asked.  _He asked her out - she looks bored, but she's staying to be polite. He's having straight liquor, she's drinking a light beer. She's in college, but he dropped out. She studies medicine, if the textbook in her bag is actually hers._  But no one had asked his opinion. No one ever did, not anymore. Not after...

 

No. That was over, now. Finally. He took another drink, quickly ordering another to replace what he had just finished draining. He heard the tell-tale jingle of the bells that signified the door opening, and glanced in the door's direction idly. It took him all of two seconds to identify the man that had stepped in.  _He's still wearing that ridiculous color,_  he noticed.  _His hair's a bit longer than normal, he probably has an appointment at some high-end salon soon to get it cut. His badge is in his right pocket. He's gripping something in his jacket pocket with the hand that isn't on his cutting-edge cell phone - the latest iPhone, looks like. He's done well, I see._ The newcomer looked around, clearly having trouble locating him. He smiled thinly.  _Come now, don't you recognize me?_  He supposed he had changed quite a bit since the other man had left him.

 

The other man's wandering gaze finally met his, and he bid a quick good-bye to whomever he had been talking to, then pocketed the iPhone and walked over.

 

"Phoenix?" he asked, uncertainly.

 

"Edgeworth."

 

Edgeworth sat down next to him. "You never drank before."

 

He laughed at that, his laughter - like his voice - sharp and rough. "I never needed to."

 

Edgeworth's eyes darkened and he looked away, that familiar old mask sliding into place. "Leave it to you to take the coward's way out."

 

The glass in his hand shattered as it hit the floor at Edgeworth's feet "Me?" he asked, angrily. " _Me?_ You're calling  _me_  a coward? Which one of us left to protect his  _career_ , Edgeworth? Why are you here, to prove to me that you have a perfect life and I'm a has-been? Get out of here, you asshole."

 

Edgeworth stared at him in shock. "Nick--"

 

"Get out and leave me alone."  _Stop rubbing your perfect life in my face, haven't you done enough to me?_

_  
_

__He could see Edgeworth's surprise and pain on his face. The prosecutor hadn't expected that he'd be able of this kind of anger. _Surprise, surprise, Edgeworth._  He didn't particularly care: after all, Edgeworth had lost the right to know him all that well when he  _left_ _._ Maya was busy; he'd understood her distance from the occasional letters he'd received that attempted to reassure him. Larry was a flake; his silence had hurt, but he'd gotten past it. He didn't really expect Maggey or Gumshoe to talk to him, to begin with. But he'd expected  _something_  out of Edgeworth, had expected at the very least something akin to Maya's support. Instead, the other lawyer had left and hadn't contacted him until now.

  


"I'm sorry."

  


"Yeah, well, me too." He checked his watch.  _ 10:15. Trucy will try to call in forty-five minutes, I should be home by then. _  Well, if Edgeworth wasn't going to take the hint and leave, then he might as well use him for a ride home. "So I take it you heard about the trial."

  


"We shouldn't talk about this while you're drunk, Phoenix."

  


"I'm not that far gone yet, Edgeworth. Besides, if it weren't for this beer, I might not be sitting here listening to you." He leaned back, watching the prosecutor try to make sense of what was happening. He could tell that Edgeworth hadn't expected to see him like this. He supposed that, if their roles were reversed, he might be surprised by a similar change in personality. He checked his watch again, for show, then looked up sharply, startling Edgeworth. "Did you bring your car?"

  


The question took him off guard. Good. "Um... Yeah," Edgeworth managed.

  


"Trucy will call in a little while, I need to be home," he said. "If you're really set on clearing your conscience, then you can give me a ride and we'll talk in the car."

  


He could see the surprise in the prosecutor's face, then the pain and resignation that came from what was clearly the wrong assumption. No matter; he wouldn't correct the other man. Better to let him feel some of the abandonment that he'd delivered. Edgeworth finally nodded, motioning for him to follow out to his car. He stood, doing so.

  


He raised an eyebrow when Edgeworth opened the door of his car. "You got a new car."

  


"Yes, well... This car seemed to fit my needs better." It was the same model as his old one, he noticed, just blue instead of the eye-hurting red. He couldn't help but feel a little spark of fondness when he saw it, the same blue as his suit had been. He glanced at the prosecutor as he slid into the passenger seat.

  


"You'll have to give me directions," Edgeworth commented. He nodded, watching out the window, absentmindedly rattling off the series of turns that he'd taken: he knew Edgeworth would remember them perfectly once he was told.

  


"I meant what I said, Phoenix. I'm sorry. I wish I hadn't left you like that." Edgeworth's right hand left the wheel, and covered his left. "I spent seven years regretting it, but... I couldn't work up the courage to come back."

  


"Until I proved my innocence," he commented. "If I didn't know you so well, I'd say you thought I might be guilty." He pulled his hand away, glancing at him. "Oh, wait."

  


"Phoenix... You were found guilty."

  


"Fuck you."

  


That silenced him for a moment. He could feel the prosecutor's gaze on him, and knew that those eyes were wide with hurt and surprise. Too bad.

  


"Phoenix. Please... I should have known better, you're right. I should have stayed, either way. But I'm here now. Can't we just... talk?"

  


"I thought that was what we were doing."

  


Edgeworth pulled over. He frowned, turning to glare at the prosecutor. "What the--" Suddenly, Edgeworth was leaned over, gripping his wrists and looking at him with something akin to anxiety.

  


"Edgeworth, what the Hell?"

  


"Wright." The prosecutor wasn't kidding anymore; that was a voice he remembered well, when Edgeworth was intent on getting a point across, in private or in the courtroom. It was useless to deter him at this point; he shut up. "I made a mistake. And I know we can't go back to what we were. But I can't spend the rest of my life in Europe, because  _ you  _ aren't there."

  


"You should have thought of that before  _ you left me _ ."

  


"I'm not leaving, Phoenix. I don't know how to make things up to you, but I want to try."

  


"You can't, Edgeworth. I  _ needed _  you, and you couldn't be bothered to even send me a letter.  _ Kristoph fucking Gavin _  was a better friend to me than you were." He knew before Miles showed it that the words had hurt; he'd meant for them to.

  


"You're right," Edgeworth said. "You deserved better than what I gave you. I'm sorry," he said, his voice slightly pleading. "I want to make it better, if you'll just  _ let _  me..."

  


He checked his watch.  _ 10:50. _  "I need to get home, Edgeworth," he said. "You don't have a hotel. Trucy's at a friend's for the night, you can stay in her room."

  


Edgeworth nodded. "Alright." He turned back to the wheel, and pulled back onto the road.

  


_ Give me a reason to trust you again, Miles Edgeworth. _


End file.
